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Greek Medical Literature and Its Readers from Hippocrates to Islam and Byzantium Greek Medical Literature and its Readers From Hippocrates to Islam and Byzantium Edited by Petros Bouras-Vallianatos and Sophia Xenophontos First published 2017 ISBN: 978-1-4724-8791-9 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-351-20527-6 (ebk) 9 Reading Galen in Byzantium The fate of Therapeutics to Glaucon* Petros Bouras-Vallianatos Τῷ Γερασίμῳ (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0) First published 2018 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2018 selection and editorial matter, Petros Bouras-Vallianatos and Sophia Xenophontos; individual chapters, the contributors The right of Petros Bouras-Vallianatos and Sophia Xenophontos to be identified as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. With the exception of Chapters 3, 6 and 9, no part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Chapters 3, 6 and 9 of this book are available for free in PDF format as Open Access at www.tandfebooks.com. They have been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Bouras-Vallianatos, Petros, editor. Title: Greek medical literature and its readers : from Hippocrates to Islam and Byzantium / edited by Petros Bouras-Vallianatos and Sophia Xenophontos. Description: Milton Park, Abingdon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2018. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2017040874 | ISBN 9781472487919 (hbk : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781351205276 (ebk) Subjects: LCSH: Medicine, Greek and Roman—History—Sources. | Medical literature—Greece. Classification: LCC R138 .G73 2018 | DDC 610.938—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017040874 ISBN: 978-1-4724-8791-9 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-351-20527-6 (ebk) Typeset in Times New Roman by Apex CoVantage, LLC THE CENTRE FOR HELLENIC STUDIES, KINGS COLLEGE LONDON, PUBLICATION 20 verso 9 Reading Galen in Byzantium The fate of Therapeutics to Glaucon* Petros Bouras-Vallianatos Τῷ Γερασίμῳ Introduction Much of what we possess of Greek literature nowadays we owe to the Byzantines, who were keen readers of ancient works and avid collectors of manuscripts, thus ensuring their transmission.1 However, over and above the significant contribution to the preservation of Greek treatises by Byzantine readers, we often underestimate the intellectual activity of Byzantine authors reflected in their creative transforma- tion of ancient texts, and thus simply label them mere compilers or mediators of the ancient legacy.2 As Hans Robert Jauss has so nicely illustrated, a text is a living entity not just in the original context in which it was produced, but in any cultural environment where it is revived, and provokes different responses from its various readers in each period.3 It would be seriously deluded to think that we can some- how recreate the original responses of Byzantine readers, but we can get an idea of the readers’ perspective by examining, for example, the role of Byzantine authors as users and interpreters of ancient texts. Such an examination will not only empha- sise the various ways that ancient texts influenced and facilitated the needs of Byz- antine readers, but it will also provide us with a better understanding of the various versions and forms in which a given ancient text became available in Byzantium. In this chapter, I shall focus on the Galenic corpus, whose dissemination in the Byzantine world was widespread and influential; in particular, I have chosen to examine the various revivals of Galen’s Therapeutics to Glaucon, which was cop- ied widely. A number of authors produced commentaries based on this treatise and some were invariably influenced by it in composing their own works throughout the Byzantine era (AD 330–1453).4 My study is not exhaustive, but rather I shall select specific examples of interest from the various forms of evidence. First, I shall pro- vide some basic introductory details on Galen’s Therapeutics to Glaucon, followed by a section on its circulation and textual transmission in Byzantium. Then, I shall go on to discuss its revival by Byzantine medical authors into two further sections; the first focuses on commentaries and the second deals with medical handbooks. Galen’s treatise and its target audience Galen’s Therapeutics to Glaucon (Τῶν πρὸς Γλαύκωνα θεραπευτικῶν βιβλία β´) is a treatise in two books written at some point between AD 170 and 174.5 Therapeutics to Glaucon in Byzantium 181 It was addressed to Glaucon, who seems to have been a contemporary philosopher and Galen’s friend. In his On Affected Parts Galen provides a long case history in which he refers to a certain Glaucon, who is most probably to be identified with the addressee of the aforementioned treatise.6 According to Galen’s account, Glaucon encountered him on the streets, not long after Galen first arrived in Rome (AD 162–165/6), and urged him to visit and examine his sick friend, a Sicilian doctor. For, according to Galen, Glaucon – in introducing the patient’s condition to him – said: . I wanted to find out for myself, not in regard to you personally, but as to whether medical science is able to make a diagnosis and prognosis in such a case.7 We have it on Galen’s own authority in this particular anecdote that Glaucon was a philosopher (Γλαύκωνος τοῦ φιλοσόφου), yet he seemed interested in medicine, in particular in the ability of a physician to make accurate diagnoses and prog- noses. But it is clear that he was not a professional physician at the time. At the end of the account, Glaucon appears amazed by Galen’s outstanding ability to diagnose very quickly and without any prior knowledge of the patient’s condition that the Sicilian was suffering from inflammation of the liver. Later on, Glaucon particularly requested Galen to write a special method of treatment, i.e. Therapeutics to Glaucon, for him.8 Right from the very beginning of his work, Galen is eager to show Glaucon’s strong association with philosophy once more by saying to him: For truly it would be laughable if I were to teach you your own business, as if you had not learned these things from Plato long ago.9 Meanwhile, from various references in the text, we can deduce that Glaucon had already read Galenic texts on anatomy (On Anatomical Procedures) and drugs (On the Capacities of Simple Drugs) and was expected to become familiar with Galenic treatises on pulses and the On Mixtures;10 furthermore, he seemed to know how to prepare certain medicaments.11 Additional evidence shows that Glaucon was familiar with Galen’s recommendation on the treatment of cancerous swell- ings,12 and was probably expected to be able to perform phlebotomy and scarifi- cation.13 We are also informed that he used to accompany Galen, as, for example, when the latter was treating a patient with a small fistula.14 In the epilogue of his work, Galen confirms that Glaucon would take his book on a journey on which he was soon to depart in case he encountered any medical problems.15 Byzantine physicians, such as Oribasios and John Zacharias Aktouarios also wrote medical handbooks, Synopsis for Eunapios and the Medical Epitome respectively, to help travelling laymen, in case there was no physician available on their journey.16 Galen’s claim that, thanks to his treatise, Glaucon would be able to tell why in cer- tain cases a physician had come to erroneous conclusions is striking,17 and recalls Oribasios’ account in which he presents his addressee, the “sophist” Eunapios, as being capable of judging a physician’s opinion where there was a disagreement 182 Petros Bouras-Vallianatos (διαφωνία) between professionals.18 Moreover, the exclusion of invasive sur- gery from the treatment recommendations reinforces the impression that Galen’s addressee was not a professional medical man.19 Thus, Glaucon could be seen as a philiatros (amateur physician or friend of medicine),20 a philosopher with a great interest in medicine rather than a professional physician. On the other hand, it is notable that Galen ends his work with a promise to Glaucon that he would compose his Therapeutic Method and his two treatises on the composition of drugs,21 which he would give him on his return or would be willing to send him, should he prolong his trip.22 The Therapeutic Method was not a treatise for the layman or ordinary physician, but presupposed a substan- tial knowledge of medical theory and experience.23 This, of course, emphasises Glaucon’s great interest in Galen’s writings on various medical disciplines, as has already been mentioned above, although we should not exclude the possibility that Glaucon might have started studies in medicine or been intending to under- take such a course of study soon. It should be noted that there is a lack of refer- ences to Therapeutics to Glaucon in other Galenic works, since all its contents are covered in more detail by other of his works.24 The first book of Therapeutics to Glaucon deals with the diagnosis and treatment of fevers.25 The second book focuses on the treatment of inflammations, tumours, and swellings.26 In fact, as can be seen in Table 9.1 Therapeutics to Glaucon could be seen as a medical handbook that takes a synoptic form by comparison with Books 8–14 of Galen’s long masterpiece Therapeutic Method, which treats approximately the same top- ics in much more detail.
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